The Good, The Bad and the Very Ugly. Patriots fall to Lions on SNF

To the surprise of nearly everyone who follows the NFL, the New England Patriots fell on the road to a Detroit Lions team that came into the game winless. While there is a lot to process over regarding New England’s defeat, I wanted to take a quick look at some of the highs and lows of the game for the Patriots.

The Good

Believe it or not, there are some positives on Sunday night if you are a Pats fan. The first is that Rob Gronkowski took the field in a Patriots uniform rather than a Lions one. It was reported by Adam Schefter before kick off that New England had a trade in place around the time of the NFL Draft that would have sent the tight end to Detroit. Fortunately for everyone in New England, Gronkowski threatened to retire rather than play somewhere other than with the Patriots. It’s hard to fathom why New England would ever want to trade away their superstar tight end, especially after losing wide receiver Brandin Cooks in a trade with the Rams. But if there’s one thing Patriot fans can celebrate this weekend, it’s that Gronkowski is exactly where he belongs, in a Patriots uniform.

The other positive that Patriot fans can take away from this game is that it is still early in the season. Traditionally, if you play the Patriots, you want to play them in September. The Patriots are still missing Julian Edelman who is serving a 4-game suspension for alleged PED use. They were also missing key defensive players as well as Josh Gordon who was inactive following his trade from Cleveland to New England. Once Edelman returns along with defensive players Eric Rowe, Patrick Chung and Trey Flowers, and Josh Gordon makes his debut, the Patriots will reestablish themselves as AFC favorites.

The Bad

There was a lot of bad in the Patriot’s game against the Lions. But the thing that I keep going back to time after time, is New England’s decision to repeatedly go to Sony Michel on the offensive side of the ball. The Patriots have always been a ‘running back by committee’ type of team. Belichick has never had, or needed, a superstar running back. Year after year the Patriots have been successful with guys like Danny Woodhead, Shane Vereen and Steven Ridley in the backfield. So the Patriot’s decision to select Sony Michel, a running back from Georgia, in the first round of the draft was head scratching. Their decision to repeatedly give Michel the ball throughout the game against Detroit was even more so.

For the first half, the Patriots averaged 1.9 yards per carry, yet Michel was consistently the focal point of the offense for much of the night. Michel finished the night with 50 yards on 14 carries in addition to -1 yard on 1 catch but was targeted multiple times and suffered from dropped passes. If the Patriots want to contend for their sixth Super Bowl then they need to go back to doing what they do best. That is, running back by committee and put the ball in your playmaker's hands which are Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski.

The Ugly

After week one I thought the Patriot’s defense was vastly improved from last year. But after two games against the Jaguars and Lions it’s apparent that is not the case, and they might even be worse. While the Patriots were without Eric Rowe, Patrick Chung and Trey Flowers - some of their top defenders - there is still no excuse for how poorly the Patriots defense performed Sunday night.

Before Sunday night the Lions had gone nearly 5 years without a running back breaking the 100-yard barrier. That streak ended against the Pats as Kerryon Johnson ran for 101 yards. The Pat’s defensive performance was terrible all game long in nearly every aspect. The coverage by the defensive backs, the run defense, the linebacker unit, the tackling, and anything else you can imagine was not up to the Patriot standard. Of all of New England’s struggles, it’s the defense that worries me the most. I know that the Patriot’s offense will get better. The return of Edelman and the debut of Josh Gordon will ensure that. But the defensive struggles by this Patriots team have only gotten worse over the last 12 months and shows no signs of getting any better. If the Pats want to win their sixth ring, then some changes will most likely have to be made on the defensive side of the ball.